"He came over to her apartment, and encouraged her to turn her son over to the church’s adoption agency when he was born. (The church’s position is that if a happy marriage between parents of a newborn seems unlikely, adoption is preferable to single parenting.)"
"Hayes was offended by the suggestion, and told Romney she would never give up her son. But, according to Hayes, Romney told her, 'Well, this is what the church wants you to do, and if you don’t, then you could be excommunicated for failing to follow the leadership of the church.'"
"Though she was defiant, the authors write, 'In that moment, she also felt intimidated. Here was Romney, who held great power as her church leader and was the head of a wealthy, prominent Belmont family, sitting in her gritty apartment making grave demands.'
"Hayes acknowledged the seriousness of excommunication: 'This is not playing around. This is not like, ‘You don’t get to take Communion.’ This is like ‘You will not be saved. You will never see the face of God.’'"
